OWNER FIGHTS DRUGS, PROSTITUTION AT COMPLEX

The owner of a Hill District housing complex says he's fast losing
ground to drug dealers and prostitutes swarming throughout his
apartment building.

Reed-Roberts housing complex owner George Mowl said police have
repeatedly tried to roust the miscreants but to no avail.

As of last week, 13 drug arrests, one aggravated assault charge and
two firearms violations had emanated from Reed-Roberts this year,
police said.

Narcotics Lt. Michael Brown said the complex and vicinity had
generated 122 drug arrests through mid-December.

Mowl said he's also implored Mayor Tom Murphy to step in. He has
spoken with Hill District police Cmdr. William Valenta about the
trouble. Although both have met with residents, so far, all has been
fruitless.

City police say the problem is with the residents themselves. They
must get their own house in order, police say.

Mowl, 55, who owns other rental properties in the area, said he bought
the 70-unit Reed-Roberts for $1.5 million several years ago.

He offers Section 8-subsidized rental housing there.

Until recently, Reed-Roberts was fully occupied, he said. Early this
month, it was down to 56 occupied units.

Early on, there was a drug problem. In fact, the huddle of buildings
at Reed and Roberts streets has been the site of several shootings
during the past 10 years.

Apartment 178 in Building 1-B remains boarded up after a murder, Mowl
said. A 19-year-old man was robbed, shot and critically wounded at the
apartment in May 1996.

Mowl said the drug situation has worsened, however. The frequency of
sales and blatancy of the dealers and users has intensified in the
past year.

Several times a week Reed-Roberts maintenance workers pick up dozens
of sandwich-style plastic bags that he says once contained crack
cocaine or heroin.

Crumpled tin foil wads on the ground were once match-heated crack
pipes, Mowl said. Urine spatters the stairwell decks almost daily and
used condoms litter outdoor landings even in cold weather, he said.

Recently, a resident's daughter, walking out to catch a school bus
around 7:30 a.m., had to pass a prostitute engaged in her trade right
outside the apartment door.

Mowl said he's not blaming police, but he is getting desperate for a
solution. By the end of the year he expects 20 units to be vacant. He
fears he will have to close down.

"I'm not throwing stones at the police," he said. Officers respond
promptly whenever residents call, he said, "but tenants are afraid to
call because police come right to their door to talk to them while the
dealers are watching."

Valenta said the tenants work against themselves.

"Part of the problem is that there are residents who are aiding people
who sell the drugs," he said. "We've done all that we can do. I'm not
sure what more we can do. At some point, the residents have to take
some responsibility."

Valenta said he and Murphy tried to persuade tenants to aid police
during a meeting this summer, but police still struggle to get their
cooperation.

Some residents hide dealers in their apartments when police show
up.

"They can't on the one hand complain and then help the drug dealers on
the other," Valenta said.

Mowl said he knows there are two or three residents who for $50 will
allow drug dealers to take cover in their apartments. But, he said, he
hasn't pinned down who they are.

"I'm going to evict them if I catch them," he said. "I can throw them
out."

Mowl said one resident is scheduled for eviction at the end of next
month because her son was selling drugs out of the apartment.

Still, Mowl knows he faces real danger if he tries to handle the
trouble alone. A dealer pulled a knife on him in one incident and
another time, a stranger whom he'd asked to leave leaned out of his
foreign-made sedan and told him, "We're gonna get you," before
speeding away.